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> Do you have evidence that the standard coding interview works?

No, I think that they are all garbage.

The only way to really hire is by having a vibe check to see if they are someone the team wants to work with, making sure that the person seems competent and has a reasonable chance of being very productive, and then hiring them quick. Give them a month and if they don't seem like a good fit, then fire them, with 2 months severance.

This is the only way I've seen that will produce a great team quickly, by hiring quickly and firing quickly. This is similar to what Netflix does but they also pay top of market which not too many companies can afford, but it produces the best results.




Seems we're on the same page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40291828

> Give them a month and if they don't seem like a good fit, then fire them, with 2 months severance.

And this! I think this is quite effective and efficient. You aren't wasting anyone's time and making sure the person has adequate time to find their next income source. It immediately makes me respect you and I think would build high employee loyalty.


As long as you want to only hire people who don't have an existing job or competing offers.


But we're talking about "seems competent and has a reasonable chance of being very productive". That's why you're interviewing in the first place. If you don't ask them to demonstrate their competence in any way how do you know they're competent? If they can't "produce" anything during an interview (even something trivial) how do you know they'll be productive? Assuming a complete stranger with no references you can trust.

A month might be too short of a time for certain roles. I think people would be hesitant to take a risk with you if they know this is your policy. I'd would say that at any point where someone is clearly not a fit they should be let go. You might know after a month (if they're terrible), you might know after 6 months, they might progress initially but stall. I think e.g. with new grads it's going to take a little longer in general since they have a pretty long growth trajectory.




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